REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIBS. 15 
ings have been razed, and the lumber therein has been used in con- 
struction work elsewhere. 
Mutually profitable cooperative relations have continued between 
the Bureau and the Dominion and provincial fishery authorities of 
Canada. The collecting of spawn of the whitefish and the cisco in 
the Great Lakes has thus been facilitated, and an exchange of trout 
eggs for Atlantic salmon eggs has been effected. 
COOPERATION WITH FISH-PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS. 
A matter of great interest in connection with the fish-cultural 
work in interior waters is the rapid increase within recent years in 
the number of fish-protective associations throughout the country. 
Generally speaking, these organizations are composed of the leading 
citizens of the community, and the influence they exert in maintain- 
ing the fishery resources of the minor waters and in securing a proper 
utilization of those resources is most beneficial to the public at large. 
They make a practice of securing the services of men of experience 
in the stocking of local waters with fish life, and in some cases they 
maintain, at their own expense, ponds in which to rear to a larger 
size consignments of young fish obtained from State and Federal 
hatcheries for planting in public streams, ponds, and lakes. Another 
important service rendered by such organizations is the respect they 
inspire for the State fish laws, as most of them advocate adequate 
protective laws and their rigid observance by their members and the 
public. The Bureau has been pleased to cooperate with such organi- 
zations in the stocking of local waters with the most suitable kinds 
of fish. The cooperation has had the effect of reducing the expense of 
distribution and of increasing the chances of survival of the fishes 
planted. 
HATCHING OF RIVER FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD. 
Hatcheries for the commercial fishes of the Atlantic coast rivers are 
located on the Penobscot River in Maine, the Potomac River in Mary- 
land and Virginia, and Albemarle Sound and Roanoke River in 
North Carolina. 
A full discussion of the circumstances attending the artificial 
propagation of Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot River was con- 
tained in the last annual report. The disinclination of the Bureau to 
continue paying to Penobscot fishermen a bonus for the careful 
handling of adult salmon purchased from them resulted in the refusal 
of many of them to sell their fish to the Bureau. The local collection 
of Atlantic salmon eggs was therefore considerably smaller than 
usual, but it was augmented by the receipt of 600,000 eggs from Cana- 
dian hatcheries, in return for which the Canadian Government was 
furnished an equal number of eggs of the black-spotted trout and 
rainbow trout. While it is probably true that the careful handling 
of salmon taken in the weirs involves a small amount of extra work 
to the fishermen, this is believed to be more than offset by the benefits 
accruing to them from the hatchery. Hence, the Bureau feels justi- 
fied in discontinuing the payment of this so-called bonus. ‘Jnder the 
existing arrangement each fisherman receives the market price for his 
